What Are Some Good Banks in the United States?

Wells Fargo, BBVA Compass Bank and Bank of America took the top three spots on U.S. News list of best banks for 2015. Criteria for the ranking included checking, savings and CD accounts, loan and insurance services, branch availability and the BauerFinancial star rating of financial strength.

Signature Bank, Bank of Hawaii and Bank United ranked as the top three banks on Forbes' list of 100 best and worst banks of 2015. Forbes' list is a ranking of the 100 largest publicly traded banks and thrifts based on quality of assets, profitability and capital adequacy. They were rated on metrics such as net interest margin, nonperforming assets as a percentage of assets, nonperforming loans as a percentage of loans and reserves as a percentage of nonperforming loans. The ratings also included Tier 1 and risk-based capital ratios and leverage ratio. Average equity over the previous 12 months was also used in the ranking system.

Data to support the ranking system was provided by SNL Financial, a financial data firm located in Charlottesville, Virginia, and represents information included in regulatory filings of banks and thrifts for the period ending Sept. 30, 2014. The banks included in the ranking range in size and include both national and local banks.